#but I recently been wanting to complete the first game and complete the trilogy :D

[shadowx16]

Would anyone be interested if I draw the hollow kids as the angry lil guys from the bad ice cream games?

[mayhaps-a-blog]

Well, another year down! I missed my usual fic roundup date in August (the day I published my first fic!), but I’ve always been terrible at remembering dates so switching to New Year’s will probably help. It’s now been 3 and a bit years since I started writing, and I’ve started breaking into original works – nothing finished yet, but I’ll get there one day!

Since the last roundup, I’ve written 11 fics, 101,030 words in total, for a lifetime total of 59 fics and 348,151 words! Again, fewer than last year, although I’m going to blame my original works – I completed NaNoWriMo last year with 50,000 words written in November, finished that particular work at 73,194 words, and finished “Novella November” (NovNov) this year with 30,000 words. So I’m definitely writing a lot, just longer works that take a while to beat into shape :)

Of the 11 fics I published this year, 8 were Star Wars fics, with the other 3 distributed between the Sandman, Babylon 5, and Dead Boy Detectives. Of the Star Wars fics, only 3 were Thrawn related; the other five were for Rebels, the Clone Wars, Aftermath, the Original Trilogy, and a Chiss OC.

So, here’s the roundup of fics for this year!

(Last year’s fic roundup can be found here! 2022 can be found here :) )

Series Additions:

The Adventures of the Poor Sods Left to Clean Up Rebel!Vader’s Mess has continued with three new chapters to part 2! A plot is developing, I promise, but the shenanigans continue with Rebel!Vader (explained in It’s Not So Easy Being Evil), the OT team, and the crew of the Executor all trapped on board together.

Thrawn Standalones:

I Came, I Saw… I Never Intended to Stay: Thrawn, recently purrgiled and trapped in the Unknown Regions, accidentally builds himself an empire. Oops? A long-promised multi-chapter fic, 30,185 words.

The Edge Between Dream and Nightmare: Also post-Rebels, Thrawn stumbles across a secret Imperial installation in the Chaos… one with terrible implications for the galaxy. But what can one ship do against the might of the Sith Eternal? Also starring Borika and the Springhawk, sky-walker fix-it and Chiss headcanon fic. This was originally mean to be a simple two-shot, I swear! Now at 9 chapters and 28.989 words.

Nightmare: Thrawn steps aboard the Chimaera. He is stabbed in the back. Thrawn steps aboard the Chimaera. He is removed from the field by a Jedi and a pod of purrgil. Thrawn steps aboard the Springhawk. What matters most, victory, or freedom? This is a darker fic for me, and it was toned down a lot from the original notes. One shot, 6,211 words.

Star Wars Standalones:

Somehow, Maul has Returned: Post-Rebels glance at Ezra, trapped on the Chimaera. Open ending, this is more of a prologue to a longer fic I haven’t come up with yet than anything else. If anyone wants to take the idea and run with it, please do!

Good Soldiers Follow Orders: A darker fic featuring Fox and the Coruscant Guard during the events of The Clones Wars season 6 episode 4: Orders. You know, the one where Fives… you know.

Some Pray for Damnation: The trial of Sid Uddra, head of the Loyalty Office, on the event of her capture by the New Republic. Collaboration with CountessLamont (@jedihlaalu) and a sequel to her fic, Hunting Uddra; much of the dialogue was reworked from our Star Wars D&D game.

Where the Ice Never Melts: A look at the life of my Chiss OC, Ran’i, and the lives of maintenance staff on Csilla. Featuring Chiss worldbuilding and headcanons, and the darker underbelly of the Ascendacy.

Other:

Catch a Tiger: Sandman fic starring Delirium. Another darker fic: it’s easy to forget in our wonder of the Endless that they are neither nice nor kind – they are only ever what they are.

The Delicate Art of Choosing Sides: A Babylon 5 AU fic of the behind-the-scenes events of S2E3: The Geometry of Shadows. What was Ivanova up to that left her limping out of the elevator, wearing a scarf and with a Drazi knocked out on the floor?

To Hell and Back: Dead Boy Detectives fic following Edwin’s original escape from Hell and first meeting with Charles.

New WIPs:

Borika’s story: the story of Borika’s return to the Seeker Program and meeting Bomarmo. Outines and partially written.

Thrawn: Year of Hell: a retelling of Star Trek Voyager: Year of Hell, but instead of the Krenim, they meet a warlord named Thrawn seeking to resurrect the Chiss Ascendancy and save his sister. Outlined.

Zine fics: I’m a writer for Finding Home: A Chiss Ascendancy Zine! In addition to my zine piece (drafted!) I came up with a bunch of other ideas I’ll write eventually, featuring character studies of various Ascendancy inhabitants.

Untitled Prequel/OT fic: AU where Anakin comes to his sense on Mustafar and flees with Padme and Obi-Wan, heartbroken about what he’d almost done. Follows their lives with Padme in the Rebellion and Obi-Wan and Anakin in hiding on Tatooine, collecting the shards of their broken family.

College!AU: Prequel AU where Anakin is the college jock, Padme is poli sci, Palpatine is the evil university president, the Jedi are the local Buddhists who raised Anakin after his foster-father, Qui-Gon, died. Of course everything goes poorly – Anakin is Anakin, and Palpatine is Palpatine, in every universe :) Outlined.

Kaz backstory fic: the history of one of my Star Wars D&D OCs, Kaz the pilot with a mysterious past! Outlined.

The Ravens of the Tower: A Sherlock Holmes story featuring some strange inhabitants of the Tower of London. If the ravens leave the tower, the empire will fall… (Outlined).

Underdark ghost story: an original work in my D&D universe, aiming for a horror tone. Outlined.

Dragon Story: an original work following a very angry dragon trapped in human form on a mission to kill the mage who cursed them. Along the way, they get (unwillingly) involved in local politics and palace shenanigans. My NovNov project, very fun to write, outlined and about halfway written!

Updates on:

Sortie: the Rebel!Samakro fic I promised to finish this year. It’s done! Just needs some editing to get it out the door :)

Have You Tried Flying in Circles: Thrawn & Apros look for an exile planet. Outlined, one section drafted.

This’ll Make a Great Story at our Second Wedding (Thranto Ghost Marriage) Part 2: Outlined, two sections drafted.

Untitled Boudica story: Original work, a fantasy retelling of Boudica’s rebellion. Drafted! In dire need of editing. Last year’s NaNoWriMo project.

[midnightchaos04]

ok ok ok so recently i've been playing through the ace attorney games (i haven't started three yet but i remember most of the plot bc of the anime) and for some reason i wanted to take a shot at what an "accurate" no DL-6 AU would look like! I just think it's interesting to see what might've actually happened if DL-6 never happened bc DL-6 is kinda the major butterfly effect in the AA world. Idk if i wanna make this an actual AU or just a ramble on how the series would be completely different without DL-6 lmao. We'll see! Maybe you guys decide :D anyway MAJOR AA TRILOGY SPOILERS AHEAD

I'll start with the characters. Gregory Edgeworth would still be alive, Miles would become a defense attorney & work with his father at his law firm. Phoenix would most likely pursue his artist career. Narumitsu/Wrightworth tbh would still happen bc they need to be canon PLEASE CAPCOM. Just that there would be no rivalry.

Anyway the Dahlia case would've been so different but also kinda the same without DL-6. It was because of DL-6 that Misty Fey left Kurain Village and Mia also left to become a defense attorney. Without Mia, it would've most likely only been Diego Armando taking on the first Dahlia case with Terry Fawles. Fawles would probably still commit suicide, and I believe Diego still would've investigated Dahlia further & gotten poisoned by her, but without Mia becoming a defense attorney & being killed by Redd White in 1-2, Diego would've never had a reason to become Godot so he probably would've stayed as a defense attorney. Furthermore, without Mia it most likely would've been Miles taking Phoenix as a client in 3-1 bc childhood friends never losing touch bc no DL-6 (you get the point lmfao).

Like, I think about maybe half the cases in the original trilogy would've NEVER happened if DL-6 never happened bc we would've never met Mia or Maya or Pearl, Yanni Yogi wouldn't need to take out his revenge, Von Karma wouldn't have been arrested, Franziska would've never wanted revenge so she most likely would've never come to Japanifornia, I think the only person that would never change is fucking LARRY and that's honestly the craziest part LMAO.

agh i'm getting kinda tired bc it's late so i'll probably finish this ramble tomorrow. there's so much I wanna talk about but my mind is going at like 1000 mph so I need to get my thoughts together lmfao

TLDR: DL-6 is the butterfly effect for the entire ace attorney world & many of the characters we know and love wouldn't even exist/be introduced if it weren't for it.

EDIT: removed the censor for suicide bc apparently tumblr is weird and idk how it works (please be nice ab me making mistakes next time I didn’t appreciate you guys basically yelling at me)

[a-pepper-honey]

1, 5, 14, 26 for the book ask game!

What are you reading right now?

Fiction read: Golden Fool by Robin Hobb (book 2 in the Tawny Man trilogy :D)

History read: La guerre de Sécession by Vincent Bernard (a French historian's pov on the American civil war)

5) What is your favourite book outside of your normal genre?

Alright, so considering my normal genre is fantasy and historical, I'm going to say The secret history by Donna Tartt or House of leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (I can't say I'm extremely original with those, ha). I've only recently started to read a wider variety of genres, so I can't name a lot of books that I really enjoyed. I guess The secret history is dark academia (is that a genre?)/thriller?? and House of leaves is... sort of horror? thriller too??? Man I'm so bad at this

14) Describe the feeling of finishing a good book.

It's like finishing anything, really: both delightful and heartbreaking, because you know you're going to leave it behind for good. I guess when I really love a book I feel a sort of immediate nostalgia? As in, I wish I could go back to the moment when I first opened it :')

26) Give a recommendation!

I will never not recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (book 1 of the Gentlemen Bastards sequence). The main cast, starting with resident theatre kid Locke Lamora, is a bunch of buffoons who are also the smartest people in their city, except when their enemies outwit them, which is often. The plot is absolutely WILD and completely character-driven, the prose is beautiful, 80% of the dialogue is actually well-written banter, and the worldbuilding. THE WORLDBUILDING. Renaissance-era Venice inspiration! Mages! Thirteen gods, including one nobody believes in, but he's vibing all the same! Sword fights on boats! Poison! Heists! Pirates! A codependent duo of main characters who you can read either as platonic best friends or with homoerotic undertones! What more could you want!

HOWEVER, I am legally required to tell you that the author is GRRM-ing his way into those books and we've been waiting 10 years for the fourth one. I promise you it is worth it. But I understand how it might be triggering for some people ahjdks

[scifimagpie]

Writeblr Q&A

So, both @palebdot and @dyrewrites were kind enough to tag me, and I finally had a minute to answer this!

1) What motivates you to write?

It's more of a compulsion, really. Things get stuck in my head; characters stroll in and start saying stuff, or going through scenes, and then I get that electric buzz that makes me absolutely have to scramble for either my notebook or my laptop.

2) A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

From a recently completed work, the Prairie Weather trilogy, which I want to shop around and see if I can get published traditionally:

Before him gaped the yawning gulf of his own fuckup. It was dizzying. He’d heard of staring into the abyss, and the abyss staring back, but he hadn’t expected it to be quite so mortifying.

I tend to be at least a bit more poetic usually, but this line just kicks so hard.

3) Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

Right now, probably Isabella from the Hell Saga - she's just so good-natured, down for anything, and fundamentally kind and hopeful. She really goes through the ringer in book 2, which I'm working on now with my coauthor, though. This is another series we're hoping to go trad on, so cross your fingers for this irrepressible, bisexual Latina and Hispanic counsellor with a strong socialist streak!

4) What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

The first draft can be really fun, but there's something to be said for that second-draft, "all the pieces are in place, now I just have to tweak them" experience. Finishing a book is also a hell of a rush. But that real, fixated feeling of being in the thick of it, often while listening to a playlist I've made specially for the project - that's definitely the good stuff, too.

5) What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

Characters, dialogue, worldbuilding, and description - in no particular order. I'm really good at making up little people, making them friends and lovers, and then putting 'em through the wringer.

6) What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

The community and enthusiasm are really winning me over, and I've been pleasantly surprised by the relative skill of my friends, too!

7) A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

My Youtube playlists are absolutely required tools for my writing, a lot of the time. Sometimes I can write without them, but boy do they help. Some of them are also related to my D&D campaigns, but I'd like to think all of them are pretty well-curated.

8) A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

The Underlighters series' underground city setting is probably one of the coolest things I've ever come up with. I was somewhat inspired by The City of Ember, but that book frustrated me so much that I vowed to write a much better version. Hopefully, I did. I tried to make it reasonably cohesive and somewhat scientifically justifiable.

However, I always tell a story about Underlighters - when I was trying to figure out the pollination situation for crops, I was doing research at about 2 in the morning one day on various pollinators and getting nowhere. Can bees live underground??? Some bees and wasps nest in the dirt, but that's not necessarily helpful. What about solitary bees and pollinators?

Startling my then-boyfriend (now husband) from his game, I threw my arms in the air and yelled, "Fuck it - cave bees!"

And so I decided that underground apiculture was an acceptable solution.

9) What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

Try some different strategies and don't be afraid to rotate between projects. Try writing in point form, using different software, doing voice dictation - it can take a long time to figure out the exact right hacks to make your story flow.

10) Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters:

Well, that's easy!

@pinkchaosart @nattheauthor and the chaps above have been wonderful; also tagging (in no particular order): @ventela1 @omokers @nethilia @whalleyrulz @chicorybones @zillanovikov @sabotabby @nic0thecreat0r @chiefwritesbook @eldritch-selachii @holdmyteaplease @koala2all

[mintywolf]

AO3 Tag Game Thing

Tagged by @astoriacolumnstaircase. Thank you!

How many fandoms have you written for?

Ever? I mean my first ever was a Sound of Music sequel that I wrote in kindergarten. But if you mean like posted online, five. Chronologically: Phantom of the Opera, BloodRayne, Final Fantasy X, Fire Emblem Fates, and Critical Role. On AO3 right now though I only have FE and CR because some of those were before I came to AO3 and I also have a(n admittedly bad) habit of destroying old or unfinished works that I don’t think I’m going to come back to. :\ (RIP The Heretic’s Daughter, you just never found your audience.)

What’s your favorite fic on your Ao3?

The one I’m most excited about is A Long Road Home, although it’s a comic that I’m crossposting to there from tumblr. Definitely the one that’s taking the highest level of dedication and the one with upcoming plot developments that I’m most eager to get to!! I’ve been really happy about how kindly it’s been received by the fandom and how many people seem to be enjoying it. I am too.

Although I’ve kind of moved on from the fandom I’m still pretty proud of Nohrian Lullaby, because it’s a complete novel (with illustrations!). While it stands on its own it was however the first part of a planned trilogy but now that I’ve gotten into Critical Role I think I’d have a hard time going back to it, haha. It was Fire Emblem’s voice cast that led me to CR but now that I’ve gotten to know them all I feel like I’d have a hard time approaching e.g. King Garon and Queen Mikoto with the solemnity they have in the game knowing now what Travis and Marisha are like at the table. XD

Have you posted elsewhere? If yes, which of those fics is your favorite?  

I’m most proud of Guardian (another comic) because that was a huge undertaking and in order to do it I had to forcibly overcome the SEVERE executive dysfunction that had been hindering me for my entire life. (Absolutely trashed my school performance and for some reason none of the adults around me seemed to think that this might be a symptom of a larger problem? I was just repeatedly told “But you’re smart! You just need to work harder!” and could not figure out why I just couldn’t.) But when I started working on that and was kind of floundering at the beginning having a hard time keeping up with it, I told myself that if I wanted to see it exist in the world, then I had to be the one to create it, and basically brute-forced myself out of a lifetime habit of destructive procrastination. I taught myself to break a huge task (200+ page comic) into smaller tasks (one page at a time) and set a schedule to make that workable (day one sketch, day two lineart, and so on). And now I sincerely don’t allow myself to procrastinate anymore. If I’m given a task to do I know to get it done ASAP before it starts to seem unconquerably huge and that is honestly as much as an accomplishment as the comic itself. It’s still a struggle but it has improved the quality of my life by a lot. (Still have not received diagnosis or treatment for whatever is causing the executive dysfunction! But at least I’ve managed to wrestle that beast to the ground and am continuing to hold it there.)

How many bookmarks do you have on AO3?

I only recently figured out what they are for, haha, so 6.

How many unread comments do you have?

None! See the above procrastination thing. I have already replied to them all. :)

Any subscriptions?

About as many as the bookmarks. Currently I’m most looking forward to updates from Consequences of a Bleeding Heart and The Madness from the Salt. :D

Any favorite tags?  

Laudna & Imogen Temult, Laudna/Imogen Temult, and within those I tend to comb through for AUs with an interesting premise. (Judging by my bookmarks my definition of “interesting” seems to trend towards “vampires” haha.)

I don’t know if she’s still active on tumblr but I’m gonna tag @auronlu bc she has had a very respectable fic writing career! (Feel free to ignore this, however.)

[planckstorytime]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: A World Beyond Anger (Part Two)

II. On the Way to a Smile

Not only does Final Fantasy VII Rebirth decline to commit to the trajectory set by the end of the previous title, but it also seems to walk back on several of the questionable decisions made by the first installment. The cast’s prescient knowledge of the future story arcs? Gone. One of the first things that happens in Rebirth is Aerith explaining that the group lost all of their future memories after the fight with the Whispers in part one. So now the cast can just go through the same story beats in the same order with the same outcomes for 95% of the game. So much for changing your fate!

Moreover, the discretionary cutaways from death and ambiguous hints about the three Avalanche members’ survivals amount to almost nothing. Jessie and Wedge are, in fact, dead, just like in the original game. Biggs’s survival only happens in an alternate world that may or may not be purgatory. Zack is back, and he’s the centerpiece of the marketing. He even made it onto the cover of the game! And yet, his role in the story feels dramatically cut down from whatever might’ve been previously planned. He occupies scarcely an hour of screentime across the 100+ hour game. Completing the game unlocks the option to skip his sequences, which tells you how significant they are to the actual progression of the plot.

To me, all of this screams that the developers got cold feet on the apparent promise of a radically different adaptation, or that they never had a plan to begin with. I think opening the game with the overt retconning of Zack’s church scene from the end of Remake’s Intermission DLC indicates that the writing isn’t committed to a specific path.

I disagree with the notion that Remake’s climax alluded to only minor adaptational changes, rather than a fundamentally different story. Prior to the party vanquishing the avatars of fate, plenty of creative flourishes and alterations peppered the narrative. There would be no reason to disrupt “fate” (i.e. the direction of the story) if it just reaffirmed the adaptation’s existing ethos. The development team encouraged audiences to speculate on how different things could be. The ending of Remake could hardly be clearer: characters deleting future timelines that carried out OG events, “the future is always a blank page”, the party vanquishing a literal divine incarnation of “capital ‘D’ Destiny”, “the unknown journey continues”, etc.

Was it all meaningless? Was it disingenuous all along? Did they change their minds? Or did the developers just want to feed some controversy for extra publicity, plus a few brownie points for going meta? I’ll return to this point once we’ve discussed the ending of Rebirth. But it’s worth noting that more recent interviews have centered around how the Remake trilogy will eventually lead into Advent Children (2005) – in other words, any narrative digression that contradicts that film (previously thought to be a direct sequel to the 1997 game) must inevitably return to the status quo anyway. In an interview with GamesRadar+, producer Yoshinori Kitase said:

“We are finally going to link up with Advent Children, that is going to be part of canon. The overall storyline, the developments, will not go wildly out in a way that will not add up to Advent Children in the end. I don’t think anyone wanted that, that’s not what we’re looking to create here. [But] to make sure it doesn’t become stale and people know exactly where it’s going, [that it] doesn’t just follow the original word for word, we add in extra elements which add that little bit of doubt. Getting the right balance of that is so key. Ultimately, we’re not trying to change the Final Fantasy 7 story into something really different. The overall balance wouldn’t really allow for that anyway.”

To me, this just sounds like a normal description of an adaptation. Like… all of them, ever. It seems a far cry from the wild, uncharted frontier they recklessly set their sights on back in 2020. Unsurprisingly, I prefer this more conservative approach. Changes feel more natural, our heroes aren’t battling the literal ghosts of the plot, and everyone seems to be acting more in-character than they were throughout the third act of Remake. It might sound like I’m poking fun at Square Enix for backpedaling, and I am, to an extent. But I also view the conceit behind my interpretation of Remake’s ending to be a rhetorical gangrenous limb. Its amputation seems like a necessary course correction, and it helped me to enjoy the new game more than I expected. I’d say that for most of its duration, Rebirth ironically feels like a more faithful retelling than Remake did.

As with part one, I greatly enjoyed the environments, music, and combat design. Controlling characters feels more responsive, world traversal has more freedom, and quest design improved dramatically. It more closely resembles my conception of what a modern entry in the series should bethan Final Fantasy XVI (2023)does. A few of the 30+ minigames irritated me, but it felt nice to have new things consistently introduced to break the routine of the main gameplay loop. None of them match the standard set by Queen’s Blood, but what’s Final Fantasy VII without some annoying side activities?

I appreciate the effort put into creating mechanics used for single sequences, just as I admire the attention to detail in the recreation of old locales, monsters, and NPCs. The stretch of the adventure covering Junon, Costa del Sol, the Gold Saucer, Gongaga, and Cosmo Canyon in particular stood out as exceptionally well-crafted. Like the Wall Market chapter of Remake, these sections demonstrate the potential inherent in a faithful – yet creatively distinct – retelling. Even as a connection to the Compilation, which I generally dislike, Cissnei’s presence in Gongaga felt both plausible and satisfying to me.

On top of all of this, I consistently laughed along with Rebirth’s humor. It manages to catch that quirky, borderline surrealist tone of FF7’s classic gags, then mixes it with a bit of flare that would feel at home in the Yakuza series (2005-ongoing). From Red XIII’s disguised breakdance to Solemn Gus’s designated hype man to Junon’s pub exclusively catering to bald patrons, the wacky scenarios and odd predicaments that the characters find themselves in often provide more amusement than the main story. Constant opportunities for them to react to strange occurrences, banter with each other, and build their chemistry constitute the core of the game’s appeal.

Barret shines as the standout member of the party this time around. His arc, like the man himself, carries a lot of weight. I love how the game articulates the tragedy of his relationship with Dyne. The lack of catharsis for Barret at the end of it all feels both heart-wrenching and all too appropriate. In his eyes, he has yet to redeem himself, but with his friends’ help, that burden won’t be enough to bury him. Beyond just his personal pathos, Barret’s characterization radiates a versatility to which few others can compare. He offers comfort and protection to Cloud and Tifa upon their revisit to the facsimile of Nibelheim, applying his fatherly instincts to his companions. His camaraderie with Red XIII, which was practically nonexistent in the source material, proves to be one of the most compelling relationships throughout the new content.

Actually, Red XIII has improved across the board. I always thought the character showed promise, but he rapidly loses plot relevance after Cosmo Canyon in the original. Rebirth utilizes him more effectively by giving us glimpses into his private moments with characters besides Cloud. This results in a greater sense of interiority, and helps to put him on more equal footing with Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Barret, as far as narrative importance goes. The Gi vignette, which constitutes the entirety of Red’s arc in the original, now ties into the lore of the Black Materia in a really interesting way – perhaps the first expansion to the series’s mythology that I’ve actually enjoyed. This makes Red’s continued presence on the adventure feel more natural. More importantly, his determination to free the Gi from their deathless purgatory sets up an interesting new storyline to pursue in the third game.

As with Red XIII, Rebirth similarly capitalizes on Yuffie’s latent potential. She’s still an obnoxious, kleptomaniacal child, but now one with the unsettling ideals of a militant nationalist. Yuffie’s borderline jingoistic admiration for her country’s “interim government”, as well as her dream of enacting revenge on Shinra, grant her more depth than FF7 initially afforded her as a hidden bonus character. Rage and pain lie hidden beneath her exuberant exterior, and this makes her reckless stunts feel actually relevant to the story on both a surface and subtextual level.

I’m not automatically opposed to any deviation from the original game; in fact, I admire it whenever the writing takes care to tighten its screws. Through Yuffie, Rebirth ties its upcoming Wutai story arc into the newly foreshadowed Huge Materia (now called “Magnus”) and Weapon plotlines. Previously, these three stories had little or nothing to do with one another, and were somewhat tangential to the progression of the main scenario throughout the latter half of FF7. Bringing them all together like this stitches up some of the frayed threads of the original’s tapestry. It feels like a natural restoration that improves upon the fabric of the original, rather than rendering something akin to the Monkey Jesus fresco.

Of course, another highlight of Rebirth is Cloud and Tifa’s deepening bond. Square took this to unexpected (though not entirely unwelcome) territory. I think both characters are handled well, and the writing really sells both the turbulence and the unrelenting compassion of the relationship. I especially like the focus on Tifa’s propensity to people-please as a trauma response, which helps to facilitate tension in Cloud’s identity crisis mystery. It explores the very human roots of their faults without ever making them unsympathetic. Frankly, I feel like this game should be the final nail in the love triangle debate, but I’m sure shippers will find a way to continue. And Square doesn’t want that war to end. That would just be bad business.

Not only does Rebirth preserve the themes of mental health and the heavy psychosexual symbolism associated with it from the original, but it actually expands upon these motifs, getting more audacious than I ever expected. Much of the new material in story, particularly the expansions to Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon, inspired me to adopt a new perspective on what this project is trying to convey… and what it means to me personally.

FULL ESSAY: https://planckstorytime.wordpress.com/2024/05/11/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-a-world-beyond-anger/

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: January 2022

First monthly media post of 2022! We’ve had -20 and -30 degree (celsius) days here so loooooots of time spent indoors reading and watching stuff.

……….FILM……….

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) I didn’t realize this was a 3 and a half hour movie so I’m warning you now. But I’m ALSO here to say I loved every minute of it. ‘Epic comedy’ is the only way to describe it and I really wasn’t expecting it to hold up so well for being a 60 year old movie. So fun, a great ensemble of characters, and an ever-evolving plot. Love it. 

The Mentor (2014) Star Wars from Obi Wan Kenobi’s perspective! It basically takes Episode 4 and intercuts it with scenes from the prequels and the editing (by John Venzon) really sells Kenobi’s tragic relationship to the Skywalkers. Worth checking out and you can watch it here.

Wizardry 1 OVA (1981) I’m not sure how I came across this but it’s been in my YouTube queue for a while (you can watch it all for free here). With a bit of research it looks like it’s based off of a video game and it was a breezy D&D-esque adventure. Some very 80s stuff going on but worth it for some fun battles. Also the main villain is named Werdna and as an Andrew, I immediately knew what was going on (one of the developers is named Andrew so they just reversed his name for the villain). Classic Andrew shenanigans.

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) There’s some capital “A” Acting going on here and once I understood what the genres were and the general concept, I thought it would be a lot more heightened than it was. Some solid comedy moments but overall, most scenes felt either 1) unnecessary or 2) predictable and that’s no fun to watch. Jake Gyllenhaal, however, is always a delight.  

The Hobbit: The Tolkien Edit (2015) Another fan edit! The Hobbit is dear to my heart and the original trilogy of films never worked for me. This was much better! I still find anything after Smaug to lack the same weight (it is Bilbo’s story, afterall) but this 4.5 hour movie has a lot going for it. I’ve recently discovered there are OTHER edits so I’ll be checking them out next winter. In the meantime you can read more about this edit here.

……….TELEVISION……….

The Bachelor (Episode 26.01 to 26.03) You know I kinda like how dopey Clayton is. Would he have been my number 1 pick for this season? No. Does he have any idea what he’s doing? It doesn’t look like it. Am I enjoying the weird meta game that the main villains are playing? Absolutely.

Dorohedoro (Episode 1.01 to 1.04) It took me a bit to acclimate to the violence (I watch a lot of all-ages cartoons, what can I say) but the world is weird and consistently surprising. And a lot of time is spent on food prep so that’s a win for me. The characters are interesting and that’s enough for me to watch the rest of the season!

Adventure Time: Distant Lands (Episode 1.01 to 1.04) This is exactly what I wanted: self-contained stories that explore individual characters from the main series with a long enough runtime to really explore some fun stuff. I fell off of Adventure Time yeeeeears ago but this was a perfect return and yeah, Together Again got me right in the heart.

The Beatles: Get Back (Episode 1.01 to 1.03) Such a joy to watch. I mean I essentially broke up each ep into 3 or 4 smaller episodes, but that’s just me. The last episode hit particularly hard as not only the series wound down but so too did the Beatles. As a study in seeing how art is made, it felt remarkably honest and for that I appreciate it. Also I never expected to so thoroughly connect with Ringo Starr. Just a low key light that the rest of the band can turn to and rely on.

……….READING……….

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett (Complete) I love the Discworld series and I love Rincewind as a character so this had a lot going for it. If you get past some of the dated humor around the setting (a mishmash of Asian cultures) then there’s a lot of great commentary about class structure and the power of myth. Perhaps not one of my top Discworld novels but even an okay book by Pratchett is still a joy to read.

Babes in the Wood RPG by Adam Vass and Kim Nguyen (Complete) This should probably go in the gaming section but I have only read through this RPG and not yet played it. Lovely concept and if you like Over the Garden Wall or Adventure Time then I think you’ll dig this. 

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz by Eric Shanower, Skottie Young, and L. Frank Baum (Complete) Of Baum’s early books I found this was the first dip in enjoyment. Perhaps it’s because it’s a mix of neither being set in Oz nor featuring many of the main characters, but it just feels different. You know? Anyway the adaptation is fantastic and Young’s artwork continues to walk that line between creepy and adorable, as is appropriate for some of the terrors in Oz.

……….AUDIO……….

Bat out of Hell by Meat Loaf (1977) Early Meatloaf will always have a special place in my heart and really I’ve been listening to this and Dead Ringer on repeat since his passing. Such wonderful Drama Student energy.

……….GAMING……….

Spelunky (Mossmouth) I nearly gave up on this but boy howdy am I a fan. I mean I haven’t beaten the final boss and have no plans to try for all of the crazy secrets but right now I’m just happy to explore, set off traps, and see how far I can go. Highly recommend and know that there’s a system in place so you don’t need to start from the first as you get better.

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Forthcoming, Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 crew and I play D&D every so often and this month we thought we’d try out Oz! It was intended to be a one-shot but after a second session (and a lot of exposition) I think they’re keen to really dig into the city. Very exciting!

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) My weekly group continues to explore Neverland and this month they babysat some seniors and let them wander into another dimension! Whoops. Full campaign diary is over here on reddit.

And that’s it! As always, let me know if you have any recommendations and see you in February!

[didilysims]

Any thoughts on the Star Wars EU novels?

Of course! (Long post ahoy.)

Disclaimer: I haven't read many yet, but I'm chipping away at the pile...and really what I've collected is just a drop in the bucket for all the Star Wars novels, so there is a lot I haven't gotten to and probably never will. I'll actually talk more about what I read in the past, because I only started revisiting the Extended Universe in the past week or so, and I'm rereading some anyway.

My first foray into the Star Wars EU was several years ago when I decided to stop fighting the SW geek within and give them a try. Allegiance was my first book, and it was not only better than I expected, but a great read! I read the sequel, Choices of One, and then, following some advice from a self-proclaimed Star Wars nerd, delved into the books that started it all: the Thrawn trilogy.

All of these books are by Timothy Zahn, and he's a very good writer. His plots are intricate and have good payoff, and his characters not only feel like their movie counterparts, but have believable thought processes as well. They don't always make good decisions, but they make decisions believable to their characters, and I appreciate that. Sometimes I felt like Thrawn was a little too smart, but after my recent reread I realize he made some miscalculations as well (so he can still feel 'human'...even though he's an alien), and even if it is too much, I definitely prefer an intelligent villain to a stupid one. Also, Zahn's world-building is excellent and I really like how he makes the galaxy feel diverse and big...even though main characters still have to all conveniently end up at the same place for the plot. :D

Next on my list was The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyres, and I remember thinking it was okay: a good read, if not really memorable. But after that I got into two trilogies written (one in full, another in part) by Kevin J Anderson. Ai-yi-yi.

Honestly I have no idea what even happened in those books: they were so tedious. I was really excited for the Jedi Academy books because Luke rebuilding the Jedi order sounded like a pretty fun story to me (plus the video game Jedi Academy was awesome, though completely separate from these stories), but uh, no. Basically everything that Timothy Zahn did well, Kevin J Anderson did very very poorly. His plots were boring and I got lost so many times in them; his characterizations were irritating, and I remember being ticked off at Han especially, though all were just...bad. They felt more like caricatures of themselves to me. And the Callista trilogy: UGH. To be fair, 2/3 of those books were written by another author, and I think the awkward romance-ish stuff was mainly in her books, but it was very painful to read and the whole time felt very pointless to me...like it wasn't going anywhere. And by the end, yeah, that's exactly how I felt: we'd come in a full circle and really nothing seemed to have changed. Sorry to any Anderson fans out there, but he just didn't do it for me. (Kind of dreading the Young Jedi Knights series he co-authored that were included in my thrift store trove...but maybe he does better for younger readers.)

The Courtship of Princess Leia I found disappointing--it just fell flat to me--but again, can't really remember much of it. I vaguely recall some interesting worldbuilding ideas, but as a whole it didn't feel very strong.

As for The Crystal Star...it was the absolute worst SW book I've ever read. Luke was completely off his rocker in it--actually the entire plot was off its rocker--but Luke especially was so pathetic it was very hard to read. I think the main plot was something about the Leia's kids being kidnapped but they were annoying so I didn't care much about them. Meanwhile there's some mind-controlling dude running around and possibly that's why Luke is such a loser here (?) and something to do with a star crystallizing and giving the evil villain superpowers while all our main characters just run around wringing their hands. Seriously, if you are wanting to try out the SW novels for yourself, do not start with this travesty of a book.

The next book I read was quite a jump in terms of publishing date: Revan, based off one of my favourite games of all time: Knights of the Old Republic. I'd heard the novel was not well-received by fans, but wanted to try it out for myself. I actually didn't mind it much until the ending, which felt like a forced twist to me, and kind of made everything before it pointless. Also some of the character decisions felt...off. So I can see why people didn't like it. And I guess I'm one of those people too, although I don't have intense feelings about it. I liked the descriptions of some of the worlds and there is one that I can still imagine, so that was fun.

I could talk a lot about my thoughts on a video game vs. a novelization spin-off too, but that's a completely different topic. But I do think that the difficulties of translating the one into the other are major factors into why this book was not so well received. I'm pretty 'meh' on it, but it was kind of fun with a let-down ending.

Anyway, I think that is where I ended my first Star Wars novels adventure, and journey #2 has barely started with me just finishing my re-read of the Thrawn books. Does it sound like I'm very negative about the EU? Maybe. Honestly, most of the books aren't great, with some big exceptions, but I don't go to Star Wars for highbrow culture. I love the SW movies (uh, the old ones anyway: I only saw the first new sequel) but I'll be the first to admit that they have a lot of flaws, particularly in the writing! But they're fun and exciting and I root for the characters and sometimes feel bad for the bad guys, and that's what I want. Maybe the more recently published books are higher quality, but I kind of doubt it. There's no denying this franchise is a cash cow and quantity trumps quality in that case. It's easier for me to find the old books than the new, but one day maybe I'll give some of the new books a try...

One last comment: I realize that every single book on this list has been deemed "Legends" since the Disney takeover, and only the newer books are now considered canon. Whatever, they can do what they want with their property. I do not have strong feelings about this, and actually understand why they did it because the Extended Universe is honestly a big mess. But I'm still going to read the big mess of "Legends" because that will always be my Star Wars era, and whether it's canon or not, there are still some fun, trashy, terrible, and exciting stories to enjoy.

In summary: If you enter the Star Wars EU with low expectations, you will never be disappointed, will probably still have fun, and sometimes might be pleasantly surprised. :)

[thebeltanequeen]

The (Blurred? Nonexistent? Inconsequential?) Line Between Canon and Fanon: An Impromtu Essay by Me

I’m currently have an existential crisis. An absolute, balls to the walls, pull my hair out, stare at the walls wondering what the meaning of existence is, kind of existential crisis. Why, you may ask? Because the older I have gotten, the more Fanfiction I have read. That’s normal. Millions of other people read fanfic like me. Well, in the past few years, I have also realized that the more fanfiction I have read, the less shits I give about the actual canon of the media I love. I care less and less about what “actually” happened, and delve into fanon instead. It’s as if the two have SWITCHED ROLES in my brain. The canon is the lie, and the fanon is the truth. This used to not be the case though, so how did we get here? And why… why is this realization sending me into an absolute spiral of insanity? Why do I feel like I have been sucker punched in the jaw? Let me explain.

I’ve been reading and dabbling in writing my own fanfiction for over twelve years. It used to be an escape, a way to further delve into my latest obsessions and become consumed by them. I have this annoying habit of also picking ships that do NOT become endgame, so I’ve always sought out fanfiction as a balm for my shipper’s soul as well. I still read fanfiction as if my life depends on it… but now it’s at the expense of reading new books. Watching new media. When I do eventually dip my toes into a new fandom, I either reject it quickly or become consumed again and make a grab for fanfiction… but in the past few years, something in not only me, but in fandoms in general has shifted.

The difference between me now, and me back then is this… I used to uphold the canon as sacred. Untouchable. Set in stone. The only credible source for the media I consume. All of the fanfiction I read was just beautiful window dressing. A lovely past time to further increase my dopamine intake.

This is no longer the case.

Now, when I read and write fanfiction, it’s as if it is an act of protest. I am actively seeking to reform the narrative. It’s to “take back” the story, the characters, EVERYTHING, for myself. To make it anew. To make it perfect. I’m not alone either. I see you. I see all of you. Now more than ever, I see more and more of us doing this exact same thing.

THIS is why I am having an existential crisis. I have just realized that I will no longer be content with the canon. Ever. Even the canon of my favorite media. It’s not enough. It’s no longer enough. It won’t ever be enough again. Why? Because there will always be places where the canon is falliable. The authors of the canon, are falliable. As an author myself, this is at once an alarming yet powerful realization.

I went to college for creative writing. At the beginning of my academic career, I thought of fanfiction as a beautiful fairytale world. It was glorious, but it was other. Separate. Not as credible as canon. Had I read fanfiction better than the media it was based on before I entered college? Absolutely, but in my head it still didn’t matter because the canon was the word. The canon was the law. As a writer, I held the power of the author (and by extension the power of myself) as sacred. By the end of college, that began to change.

The more I was taught about writing, the more I came to realize that sometimes, authors are just straight up WRONG. Sometimes, there’s soooooo much potential… AND THEY JUST FUCK IT UP!!!!!!! The bones are incredible, but the canon is weak, the logic is lacking, the story makes no sense, the characters don’t reach their full potential and you know what? I’m tired. I’m tired of it. This is why fanon is canon’s salvation. Fanon makes canon look pathetic. But… if I accept the fanon as the reality, and make the canon the lie, does that still make it fanon? No. I don’t think it does. I think fanon has become something other. Something greater.

I have become disillusion by “published” or “credible” books. 95% of the novels I actually buy at the store today are garbage. Trash. Half written nonsense that only serves the purpose of paying people. I’m TIRED OF IT. I’ve become disillusioned by the “power” of the author. I have become disillusioned by canon. FUCK canon, quite frankly. Rip it apart. Dissect it. Take out it’s beating heart and transplant it into a new body. Give it the soul that the narrative was begging for. REVIVE IT. LET YOUR OWN IMAGINATION MAKE IT ANEW. Characters mean too much to people. Fiction means too much to people. Stories mean too much to people for anything less. Only then will you or I be satisfied.

Now, even an impromptu, unedited, gibberish essay is not complete without examples. I’ll start with one that you probably thought of while reading this. Game of Thrones. I think that two years ago, the ending of the most influential show of the entire decade, is where my subconscious began to shift in this direction. Now, I doubt my opionions about GoT are the same as yours, but you know what? It DOESN’T MATTER because FANON CAN FIX THE CANON. The stories that meant so much to millions can be fixed by accepting the fact that THE CANON ISN’T THE LAW! IT FUCKED UP!!!! CANON DOESN’T DESERVE TO SPEAK ANYMORE!!!! TAKE BACK THE STORY AND TRANSFORM IT INTO A VERSION TRULY WORTHY OF THE GLORIOUS BONES IT HAS!!!!!

We also can’t ignore the role that monetization plays in the media we consume. Why leave our fiction in the hands of just the big names? Why let money dictate what is real and not real? WHY SETTLE FOR MEDIOCRE STORYTELLING JUST BECAUSE IT WAS SOLD TO YOU AND THEREFORE IT’S “LEGIT CANON”??? FANFICTION IS FREE, AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PIECES OF WRITING I’VE EVER READ WERE WRITTEN BY FANFIC AUTHORS WHO DID IT FOR THE STORY. WHO DID IT FOR THE ART. WHO ACTUALLY DID IT JUSTICE. FUCK THE CONCEPT OF FANON AND CANON. THE STORY WE WANT IS ALL THAT MATTERS. GET MONEY OUT OF HERE.

Ahem. To avoid going on even more of a tangent, I’ll move on and give the example that triggered my existential crisis in the first place. Sailor Moon. To give some background, Sailor Moon is it for me. I have grown up with it. I’ve watched it my entire life. As a child, I ran around with my toy moon rod and desperately wanted to be Usagi. Ironically, I grew up to be quite a bit like her (but with Rei’s temper admittedly). It is my comfort show, my happiness. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry. I never tire of it. It makes my heart swell. I have never, nor will I ever, love any piece of media the way I love Sailor Moon. Flash forward to today, I watched Sailor Moon Eternal, the two new movie adaptations of the Dream arc in the manga (stick with me non-manga and anime lovers). I liked the films, but I was left with a deep, disatisfied yearning. I want back the feeling of complete bliss I experienced while watching the 90’s anime as a child. The problem with this? I’ll never get it back. I’ve just realized this. I’ll NEVER get it back. Why? Because it’s no longer the perfect version of Sailor Moon that it was to my young eyes. Crystal, while good, is also not the perfected version I seek in my adulthood, and Eternal has not scratched my insatiable itch. I am heartbroken because I’ve realized that Sailor Moon in its perfect form doesn’t exist anymore. If I held any canon sacred, it was this. But the story is flawed. The manga is flawed. The anime is flawed. It’s not infallible, as much as it truly, deeply hurts me to admit to the world and to myself. The only perfect version of Sailor Moon is the one in my heart. It’s the one I choose to piece together for myself with the building blocks that others who came before me have handed over.

Another, more recent example of falliable canon is The Grisha Verse. More specifically, the Shadow and Bone trilogy. I was brought in to the fandom by Ben Barnes’ depthless eyes and magnificent scruff. And you know what? I liked the story, but I stayed for Ben Barnes. I liked the Darkling so much that I bought the entire grisha verse books. It was a premature decision. I’ve only made it halfway through Storm and Seige, and you know what? I’m tired of the canon already. It’s not that great. The bones are there, but it could be SO. MUCH. MORE. I haven’t read the crow books yet, and by all accounts Leigh Bardugo has improved tremendously as a writer. Which incidentally proves my point. Authors are falliable. Ergo, the canon is falliable. I can’t help but think while I read these books, “Damn. I could write this better.” and you know what? I’ve read fanfics that HAVE written it better.

Am I saying this to trash Bardugo? Or even GRRM? (Yes I admit to trashing D&D but that’s beside the point ahem…). NO. I am NOT trashing the writers. I’M A WRITER. I GET IT. YOUR STORY IS YOUR BABY. I G E T I T . But I’ve realized, and what I think future authors will also have to realize, is that fiction doesn’t belong to anyone. As soon as it’s out the door, the fiction no longer belongs to the author. It belongs to us. The people. That’s what is beautiful about fanfiction. It’s not here for the money. It’s not here for the clout. It’s here for the fiction itself. Plain and simple. It belongs to no one and everyone.

In the past, I would have fought this. I would have wanted my work’s canon to be law. To be the word, the truth, the way etc. Now? I can’t be a hypocrite. I can’t be selfish. It isn’t about the author. It’s about the vision. It’s about the story, the narrative, the characters. It’s about art. And sometimes, the authors give birth to the idea (and they deserve credit for that without a doubt), but it’s also true that sometimes, someone else just writes it better. Someone else quite simply saw the vision, the story, the characters, more clearly than the author did. I make this vow now, as an author, to strive for the vision. If someone takes my vision and does it better than me, that only improves my perspective of my own story. It improves the world of fiction as a whole. It makes me better.

So, canon? Fuck the canon. Take back the story. Take back the characters. Take back the art. Fiction is ours. It belongs to us, and we can do with it what we please. Let’s strive for OUR OWN perfected version of the media we love. Canon doesn’t truly exist. The concept of Fanon doesn’t even exist anymore in the way we used to think of it. The author’s version of events is their own Fanon of the story. Canon is meaningless now. There is only the story that you accept in your own mind. There is only the story that I accept in my own mind, no matter how different it is from yours. There is only the art. There is only the limitless potential of countless people’s imaginations. Let’s continue to collaborate and celebrate beautiful stories together, in any conceivable way, over and over and over again, until the end of time.

Fin

[magicrobins]

Mass Effect Tag

Tagged by @commander-krios & @actualanxiousswampwitch! 💕

I am a fan since: ...Um... Oh god I can’t remember when I first heard about Mass Effect and decided I want to play it. It was a while after the trilogy had been out though. Like Andromeda was the first Mass Effect game I was there for the launch of. 2016 I think is when I first started ME1.

Favorite game of the series: If we’re only going with the trilogy, then ME3. If we’re going off of the Mass Effect franchise, then Andromeda is my favorite hands down.

MShep or FShep: My main Shepard is a male Shepard but he’s actually genderqueer, using he/him pronouns. So technically mShep but also technically neither as majority of my Sheps are nonbinary iirc.

Earthborn, Colonist, or Spacer: Colonist

Biotics or Tech: I’m a sucker for magic and biotics are the closest we get to magic in ME so while I have characters that don’t have any biotics, biotics and their classes are my faves.

Paragon or renegade: Paragade! : D Why pick one when you can have both? LOL.

Favorite Class: In the trilogy it’s adept, though I excitedly can’t wait for either of my vanguards. If we’re counting Andromeda, then my favorite is the explorer profile because of the biotic blink effect it gives you asdfghjkl;

Favorite Companion: I uh - I’m very basic in the fact that I love and adore them all and who I pick is more based off of the Shepard I’m playing and who they’re drawn to. With my main Shepard, Duncan, I had a variety of different squads I’d take with me ‘cause his main romance was Steve so I didn’t have a love interest to take around. I did take Samara a lot iirc in ME2 ‘cause I did her “fling” with Dunc.

Least Favorite Companion: I don’t have any LOL. I love them all. :’D It’s actually very rare for me to dislike a companion in a game (tho I can def think of two, they’re not from Mass Effect LOL).

My Squad Selection: Depends on the Shepard and who I feel like bringing along. Like stated above, the most consistent I took with me I think was Samara a lot in ME2. In ME3, I took Garrus, James, and Kaidan with Dunc a lot for reasons specific to Duncan. It’d def vary from my other Shepards, who are lucky enough to date squadmates and bring their LIs are mission dates. :’)

Favorite in-game romance: My favorite for ME in general would be in Andromeda. I’ve only completed Steve’s romance - and Samara’s “fling” - in the trilogy so far and while both are very nice imo and I adore them (the pacing in Steve’s could’ve been written better but I can admit that and still enjoy it) I wouldn’t say either are my favorites. /:

Other pairings I like: I like any pairings so long as they’re not like Steve/femShep or Traynor/mShep. All the romances in the trilogy are nice and I think quite a few are underappreciated. Jacob/Shep (regardless of gender) could use more love imo. I know how his romance ends in ME3, but his romance in ME2 seems quite nice still to me and Dunc would’ve romanced him so fast if he’d been bi, gdi the chemistry. -clears throat- Don’t mind me, I’m just crying in a corner LOL.

Favorite NPC: Oh no I love so many. ;-;

Favorite Antagonist: As a character I actually quite like Kai Leng and the Illusive Man. As people, I don’t like them LOL but as characters they’re very fascinating and interesting to me.

Favorite Mission: I really liked the Leviathan mission, the one at the end in that ocean. Maybe it’s ‘cause Steve was actually in it quite a bit and Dunc had some new/feelsy scenes with his boyfriend LOL. I’m desperate for Shortez content, okay? ;-;

Favorite DLC: Citadel. I am bASIC LOL. I like how almost everyone shows up again (I say “almost everyone” ‘cause obvs Chakwas isn’t there and Kelly doesn’t make an appearance again) and it’s funny and goofy and parts of it were some of the few times I actually felt like I related to my Shepard more or he felt more real to me during that DLC? Idk how to explain it tbh.

Favorite Loyalty Mission: It’s been a while since I played ME2... I think Tali’s maybe???

Control, Synthesis, or Destroy: Destroy! The other options don’t really appeal to me however I find it fascinating that there are players they appeal to and I find that really cool. :3

Favorite Weapon: Sniper rifle. Unless I can count biotics LOL. I got Dunc’s weapon weight down so low in ME3 that his biotic powers’ cooldown was 100% lolol.

Favorite Place: ...A bad thing about Andromeda being the most recent game I’ve played, I only remember the locations in that one LOL. ^^”” The quarian (sp?) homeworld was nice iirc!

A quote I like:

“They rebuilt Mindoir... It wasn’t the same.” - Colonist!Shepard

“Someone needs my boot up their ass.” - Shepard

“Never do that again! ...Sir.” - Steve Cortez

“50,000 years and I still don’t get picked.” - Javik

And honestly any dialogue line from the Citadel DLC or the final mission in ME3 LOL.

Tagging: @bxtgrl​ and anyone else who wants to ‘cause I’m realizing idk how many of my mutuals play ME. o-o;;

[paleblank]

So I've been thinking a lot about smash dlc characters so here's 6 characters I'd love to see in smash! The character I most wanted in was Banjo Kazooie so I'll be pretty satisfied with anything really but here are my picks

Sora: I think sora would fit so well in smash, his battle style is so unique with the keyblade being such a cool weapon that can transform into a buch of things with formchange and teleport back to the owner's hand when thrown. We also got the super badass drive forms and the hella edgy Anti-form that would be so cool to see implemented in his moveset. the only real thing I see holding this character back is that he's not owned by Square Enix being owned by Disney instead. Idk how would Disney react to that. Also a lot of Sora's summons are Disney characters, his keyblade has the mickey head thing so idk that could be troublesome to license well. Also he's more on Sony and Microsoft consoles rather than Nintendo but so was Cloud. Guys but he's so adorable 🥺 the way he says sorry when messing up cooking with Remy from ratatouille just breaks my heart.

Paper Mario: I feel Paper Mario is different enough from Mario to be his own character in smash.Paper Mario has a hammer, partners, the whole paper mechanic and that ability with the stars that appear again in Mario Party 5 for some reason... hm a lot to work with here. He's also completely silent unlike Mario! he'd be another flat character like Mr. Game n watch. Also, he just recently had a new game on the switch so that's a plus. I know it'd be another Mario franchise rep and people have been wanting Waluigi(let's be honest it's just to complete Wario and also cuz memes) but Paper Mario is way more unique and even has his own series of games. Keep the Waluigi-not-in-smash meme alive.

Ryu Hayabusa: Ok. Ninjas. Ninjas in smash. Nintendo we need ninjas in smash... and I'm not talking about pokemon ninjas(greninja) that doesn't count. I'm talking about actual human ninjas. Ryu first appeared on the NES with the Ninja Gaiden trilogy of games(which I never beat cuz it's hella hard) so he'd be kinda like a retro character like Simon. I say kinda because he got a reboot on the xbox later on which Slapsss. But the NES wasn't the only Nintendo console he was on, he was also on the NDS(this game was super fun like you hold the DS sideways it's greatt) and Wii U(he's back on the Switch NES online collection thing too) Now, he is primarily a sword user like so many other smash characters but Ryu is diversity incarnate this man can use sooo many other weapons like a staff, kusarigma, tonfas, bows, dual swords, bladed nunchuks, freaking wolverine CLAWS oh and a modafuckin SCYTHE. So idk they could implement different weapons like they did with Byleth or make the Dragon Sword be his homie his only weapon to keep it classy. To complement that got the usual ninja stuff like the shurikens, the kunais and the totally not op Ninjutsu. Also he his so graceful and fiercee have you seen his fighting style? His movements are so cool to look at. Like, Izuna drop. In smash. Ugh husbando. He's owned by koei tecmo the same guys that did the dinasty warrior games and the fire emblem and zelda warriors crossover of games. So they've been working really close to Nintendo recently. Although the last we've seen of Ninja Gaiden was back in 2014. But like Banjo Kazooie hasn't had a game since 2008 so it's not a big deal. (Edit: wow so Nintendo just announced Koei Tecmo is doing yet another Zelda Warriors game :D andd they're lending them assets from BotW which means Nintendo really trusts this company so Ryu getting in Smash as a representative of Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja is very very likely, probably the most likely of the list) 

Dante: Hey we have Bayo let us have Dante. He's a cool mofo, he chill he badass. What else can I say? I love his personality ahhh (reminds me of Pale a bit) but I know he's another sword character but he has GUNS and can turn into a DEMON so I think they can make him stand out enough from the others. His fighting style is so stylish and cool yes yes. I feel Nero would be super cool with his devil breaker arms too but Dante is the face of Devil May Cry. I think dmc 3 is the only game on a Nintendo console though... But who cares get this mofo in smash please

Travis Touchdown: why do I love these personality types hmm. Now he was a wii excluse for a while and most of his games were on Nintendo platforms first so plus plus. Yet another sword character oops but I mean he has a beam sword that's hella cool plus he can turn into a red TIGER. His game is a bit.. well mature, and not only on the gory side of things but there's like a lot of sexual innuendo (he looks like he's jerking off when he's charging his sword) but hey Bayonetta had her moments as well. We got a new game coming up in 2021 mhm. Anyway I wouldn't mind if he didn't got in probably just a bonus on my list.

Okami: wow I want a lot of hack n slash human characters huh let's combo break that with Amaterasu! She's a wolf, a goddess, she's so cool definitely the most unique pick out of my choices here. like her game is so one of a kind it should be in museums across the world and they should have ppl handing out free copies just so everyone can experience this art in game form. Just image the possibilities of her moveset! She was in a fighting game before and it was amazing. We need more non-human characters in smash too. Hmm it is yet another capcom rep though(we have Megaman, Ryu and Ken and I want Dante too.) But let it happen please

So that's my list for now. If any of these characters get in I'd be sooo happy!! Let's wait and see.

[finicky-finnick]

Finnick might have voted YES for another Hunger Games

I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but during my recent reread of THG trilogy it struck me that Finnick might actually have voted ‘yes’ to another Hunger Games had he lived in order to protect Annie (and possibly also himself, although I don’t think he cares much about his own physical safety) from Coin.

Annie says that Finnick would vote no if he were there. I do not doubt for even a second the truth of that statement if the vote were solely about his personal convictions. I am in no way saying Finnick personally wanted another Hunger Games. But I still think there is a possibility he might have voted with Coin. 

This is going to get long. Apologies. 

First of all, there is evidence early on in Mockingjay that Finnick has Coin’s number. You can see this when he and Katniss watch the Distirct 8 hospital bombing propo. Finnick’s political awareness and strategic intelligence are on full display. The most striking part of the scene is how quickly his mind works. 

What happens is this: an interview with Peeta comes on right after the rebel propo about the Distict 8 hospital bombing. Finnick and Katniss watch it. Peeta is in very bad shape. He implores Katniss to stop making propos, asks if she can trust the rebels, insists she is being manipulated into being a cause of death and destruction.

Finnick presses the button on the remote that kills the power. In a minute, people will be here to do damage control on Peeta’s condition and the words that came out of his mouth. I will need to repudiate them. But the truth is, I don’t trust the rebels or Plutarch or Coin. I’m not confident that they tell me the truth. I won’t be able to conceal this. Footsteps are approaching. 

Finnick grips me hard by the arms. “We didn’t see it.”

“What?” I ask. 

“We didn’t see Peeta. Only the propo on Eight. Then we turned the set off because the images upset you. Got it?” He asks. I nod. “Finish your dinner.” 

And Finnick’s plan works. (“I pull myself together enough so that when Plutarch and Fulvia enter, I have a mouthful of bread and cabbage. Finnick is talking about how well Gale came across on camera. We congratulate them on the promo. Make it clear it was so powerful, we tuned out right afterward. They look relieved. They believe us.”)

This demonstrates that Finnick has Coin’s number while also demonstrating that he understands Katniss well enough to know she is not capable of playing the game she needs to in order to survive right now. He is in such bad shape mentally at this point that he “basically lives at the hospital” and yet he is sharp enough, astute enough, and quick enough to realise in a matter of seconds that: 

a) people will be checking on them any minute, 

b) Katniss will have to publicly respond to Peeta’s comments as well as assure Coin and Plutarch that she completely trusts them and the rebels if word gets out they saw Peeta, 

c) Katniss does NOT trust the rebels or D13 or Plutarch, and especially not Coin, 

d) Katniss is, in that moment, incapable of acting well enough to convince Coin and Plutarch that she does trust them, and 

e) the consequences of that would be bad, bad, bad. 

Therefore, it is highly likely that Finnick would be aware of the fact he and his loved ones are unsafe when it comes to Coin, and this knowledge would have been a factor in how he voted during the Games vote at the end of Mockingjay. 

In fact, he probably realised this a lot sooner than the Games vote. Finnick probably understood immediately that he was now expendable - and potentially a threat - the moment he laid eyes on Peeta, the newest member of the Star Squad. 

Katniss is a lot less politically astute than Finnick, so Boggs has to spell it out for her. 

“But you’ll throw support to someone. Would it be President Coin? Or someone else?” [Boggs says]

“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it,” I say. 

“If your immediate answer isn’t Coin, then you’re a threat. You’re the face of the rebellion. You may have more influence than any other single person,” says Boggs. “Outwardly, the most you’ve ever done is tolerated her.”

“So she’ll kill me to shut me up.” The minute I say the words, I know they’re true.

“She doesn’t need you as a rallying point now. As she said, your primary objective, to unite the districts, has succeeded,” Boggs reminds me. “These current propos could be done without you. There’s only one last thing you could do to add fire to the rebellion.”

“Die,” I say quietly. 

“Yes. Give us a martyr to fight for,” says Boggs.

Boggs tells Katniss explicitly that Coin wants Katniss dead because whomever Katniss supports as the new leader of Panem is who the new leader will be.  Katniss has this amount of influence because she is “the face of the rebellion.” Aka she is extremely famous at this point - dare I say, as the Mockingjay, a living legend.

Who else is a living legend in Panem? Finnick. 

I think Finnick would have realised Coin might now consider him a potential threat the minute he understood that Coin saw Katniss as a threat, which I think he would have pieced together the moment Peeta joined Star Squad. While Katniss undoubtedly has the most sway over who will be Panem’s new leader, it is highly likely Finnick held some influence, too. He is one of the most famous people in all of Panem and is now famously a rebel due to the several propos he made. Being the Capitol Darling for 10 years probably limits how much political sway he has over the general public, and his mental breakdown in D13 probably lost him some credibility with the rebels. However, he probably gained quite a bit of credibility points and general influence after his powerful confessional propo that revealed Snow’s forced prostitution of the desirable victors, Snow’s deadly rise to power, and other salacious details about the other most powerful people in the Capitol. His primary use was his ability to turn the Capitol against Snow. Now that he’s accomplished that, he is expendable to Coin - just like Katniss. It just took longer for Katniss to become expendable than it did for Finnick. 

So Finnick would have  known he could not afford to give Coin the impression he did not support her fully and without hesitation. He had Coin’s number from pretty early on and has a sharp political mind. This leads us to the vote. 

If you look at the Victors who voted ‘no’, you realise the none of them have much influence over public opinion. Peeta (a ‘traitor’ due to his capitol tv spots during MJ, then an ‘evil Capitol mutt’ when returned hijacked) doesn’t have much influence. His credibility is shot. Annie, who has a very public reputation as the mad victor, also votes no. So does Beetee. Beetee has more credibility than Annie or Peeta with the public, but he is older, in a wheelchair, and not one of the most famous victors so he likely doesn’t hold much sway. He also cites political concerns for his vote, not moral objections, a move reminiscent of a wise advisor to a king. He also demonstrated his loyalty with the bombing of the Capitol that killed Prim.

So basically, the victors who vote against Coin are the ones who don’t pose a threat to Coin. Johanna and Enobaria vote yes out of a desire for revenge. The victors with more credibility and sway (Katniss, Haymitch) vote yes knowing that they can’t be seen to not support Coin (Kat) and knowing what Katniss is planning (Haymitch). 

I think Finnick would have known immediately what Katniss was planning, but I don’t think that would have any influence on his vote. 

Bottom line/TL;DR: I think he would have voted ‘yes’ to protect Annie. Because he would have known Coin might see him as a threat and his experience has taught him that presidents use his loved ones to punish him or keep him in line. He has seen the similarities between Coin and Snow from the beginning and has been given no reason to assume Coin will behave differently. 

[oveliagirlhaditright]

So in your case, are you put off from Sor iku because of the ship wars? And would you have been more open KH multishipping had it not been for that? Or, is Sor iku simply a ship you wouldn't have thought of had the fans not brought it up?

At this point in my life, I feel like an alternate version of me right now could have been shipping S*oRiku some, if the fandom hadn’t ruined it for me.

Though that’s not entirely true. I just feel like this ship would never completely gel with me. And even in said alternate universe, I would still be shipping S*oKai more as my true OTP.

But my issues with S*oRiku are this:

1. While S*ora’s a good enough person to not let what R*iku did to him--in trying to kill him, and all--really bother him or hold it against him... I just personally headcanon that his subconscious mind might cause him to have nightmares about it. Like, his conscious mind is okay with it... but his subconscious mind isn’t. And as an aside, one of the reasons I ship S*oKai--and think it’s good--is because K*airi’s the only person in S*ora’s close circle of friends who has never betrayed him. Some of you may think I’m wrong on this one... and that S*ora’s forgiven R*iku so much, that even his subconscious doesn’t hold onto any of those old feelings. But IDK. Even while forgiving N*aminé, yes, S*ora still told her in that moment he wasn't happy with her messing with his memories. 

2. The goddamn power imbalance drives me bananas, and I don’t think it would be healthy. This was, of course, at its worst in K*HI. But it was improved upon after that... when they both realized they were jealous of each other and wanted to be like each other, and then took a healthy step forward in becoming moreso friends again than rivals (perhaps the friends they once were). So you may be asking, “Why don’t you ship them then, Shanna?” Because D*DD had to bring it back! With R*iku now being a Master over S*ora... and seeing as how N*omura always wants Sora to be a “normal boy”, I don’t see that changing. In K*HIII, R*iku--among everyone else but K*airi--kept teasing him about not being a Master... and while it was all in good fun, you can tell that it really hurt S*ora and shattered his confidence a lot. Maybe not so much the teasing, as the event itself... but still. Maybe not tease your dear friend over a sore spot of theirs every second of every day, guys?

3. I’ve just realized R*iku’s entire redemption arc--which is a huge reason as to why people ship S*oRiku--bothers me and makes little sense, imo. Like, the big takeaway from K*HI, is that R*iku was wrong to side with M*aleficent, kidnap Princesses, want to sacrifice P*inocchio to save K*airi and kill S*ora if he got in his way of saving K*airi... And yet the story’s way of R*iku making up for what he did to S*ora, is to essentially kill more people but for him this time: R*oxas and X*ion. And I know there’s a whole narrative about how our heroes were told N*obodies weren’t supposed to exist/really didn’t exist/were doomed to fade away or back into their original selves, anyway, and R*iku felt he had no choice. But it still bothers me. To me, it gives the unintentional narrative that it’s not okay to kill people for K*airi’s sake, but it is for S*ora’s. It also doesn’t help that, for the most part, R*iku doesn’t see what he did in the D*ays timeline as bad at all--or that he should apologize for it (and he’s yet to): at least not like D*iZ and N*aminé do.

And as a 3.5 of this list... I feel like R*iku became too obsessed with S*ora in his desire to help him/make amends with him, and it really isn’t (or at least wasn’t) healthy. Especially since he didn’t seem to take care of himself at all during that time. Though to be fair... some could maybe argue the same when it comes to S*ora’s obsession with K*airi, and how that’s now gotten him killed twice now... and they may not be wrong. So see? I’m trying to be objective and fair here.

4. And this is a big one for me... I kind of don’t care about S*ora or R*iku without K*airi, so this is probably a big reason as to why I could never really ship them... but explains why I can ship S*oRi*Kai some. All of D*ream D*rop Distance, I got no ship feels like many others would or did, or whatever. No. I just wanted to punch both of them in the face the whole time, for abandoning Kairi. I was so mad! I was like, “How dare you leave your other best friend behind, for no good reason (since you thought there was no danger and she can even somewhat fight now), when you know how much your doing so hurt her last time and you maybe even just made promises against that ever happening again?! Yet here you are! And how dare you take the raft without he?r! And R*iku, what the fuck are you saying, that it was T*erra who made you want to see other worlds when in K*HI you said it was Kairi?! You know what?! Dishonor on all of you! Dishonor on you, dishonor on Sora, dishonor on your cow!” Yeah.

5. This is kind of a minor one... but a lot of people ship S*oRiku in a “and S*ora saves R*iku from his darkness” kind of way. And I’m just- I’m getting sick of this trope in any piece of media anywhere. Because it’s not someone else’s job to save you from your demons. It’s your own. Seriously. Stop trying to put that on so many people/characters. It isn’t fair to them... especially when an act of love so strong as that can often times destroy the giver. Not that I really think it would S*ora--or that this entirely applies to S*oRiku--but I’m just kind of done with the trope as a whole. And a lot of people ship S*oRiku because it’s kind of a light and darkness pairing, and find S*oKai boring because it’s light and light... but tbh? In real life, if given the choice, most people would choose to be with a light person and not be weighed down with a dark one. Because again: it’s not their job to save someone, and expecting that from them really isn’t fair.

6. And I guess this is moreso why I don’t like them in fanon, as opposed to why I don’t like them in canon: I hate how most S*oRiku fanworks that I’ve seen of them, strip away any masculinity that S*ora has--but I’ve also seen their argument, that we S*oKais can make him too masculine. And I could maybe agree with that--and just want him to be a damsel in distress for R*iku to save. I think people who have made posts--about how certain S*oRiku fans need to check themselves... because they hate K*airi, for apparently “always needing to be saved by S*ora”... but then dream of S*ora always being saved by R*iku--aren’t wrong.

And as for if I would have seen any S*oRiku at all in the games without S*oRiku shippers telling me it was there... in the original trilogy (K*HI, C*oM, and K*HII), I don’t see it at all. I know most S*oRiku shippers started seeing it in II... but I don’t. At all). I don’t even really see it in D*ays and B*bS. If anything, I started seeing it in C*oded and D*DD (but at first, I didn’t really see it in C*oded, either; it just seemed long strong/sweet friendship stuff to me--and maybe still don’t as much there as I see it in D*DD--so D*DD’s really the only one I see it in). 0*2 doesn’t have it, in my opinion. And even though people try to argue that K*HIII has it... I think if any S*oRiku fan is being honest with themselves... they can tell that the bromance was toned down in that one, at least compared to recent games, probably because this was when N*omura was first getting news that people shipped S*oRiku... while he was making this game that he wanted to go full S*oKai in. Yeah.

So, to answer your question, at least in this reality... I can never really ship S*oRiku: for the fandom, for things I dislike about it, and the fact that S*oKai will always be my favorite (though I can ship S*oRi*Kai, just not as much as the former). But in an alternate universe where the fandom wasn’t awful... I would probably be shipping it a little; I may have been big enough/strong enough to set the tropes I dislike about it to the side and give them a chance, but I still wouldn’t ship it like I do S*oKai... and I’d get mad at any time K*airi was left out and I felt S*ora and R*iku were being bad friends to her.

[blackidyll]

It's been a long while since I've been on Tumblr, but here I am, trying to get back into my usual rhythm of life. Mainly: I'm alive, but I'm really, really tired.

The end of 2019/beginning of 2020 has been really insane. I fell sick for most of December - the whole cough/cold/sore throat trifecta that got so bad I finally ended up on antibiotics on New Year's Eve. I actually took two weeks of leave in December, but I was so sick and busy during this time that I basically got no rest whatsoever, and when I got back to work in January it was to drop straight into an absolute tsunami of work - one huge project ended the day before Chinese New Year, and immediately after CNY holidays I had another huge executive event to prepare for (I was working over weekends), and when that ended last week I got YET ANOTHER project dumped on me. Covid19 and the political situation in my home country is also taking its toll. I feel like the past two months has been an absolute blur - mostly of stress and negativity.

I'm so tired, you all.

Anyway, I'm trying hard now to pull back and strike a balance between work and having down proper time. I owe quite a few of you replies to messages and chats, and TBH there's like 60+ comments in my AO3 inbox that I haven't had a chance to respond to. I'm going to try hard over the next few weeks to get to all of them. I really appreciate every message and comment I get, because they constantly remind me there's still people and the entire world out there, when sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in my head with all my stresses and worries and the day-to-day grind.

I'm going to go throw a bunch of things in my queue to get this place kickstarted again, but in the meantime - have some fic recs. I've been reading a lot of fic to keep afloat the past three months; these are the WIPs I'm following at the moment. I'm completely out of creativity so my own fics will have to wait, but it always gives me a boost when I see some love for my WIPs, so if any of these appeal to you, give them a read and drop some love to those authors too.

The Bureau Files series by Catsafari [The Cat Returns, episodic/case style canon-based sequel; Baron/Haru]

i kill giants by diasterisms [Star Wars new trilogy; canon-based sequel to The Rise of Skywalker; Rey/Ben]

Ragnarǫkr, Part 3 of the Sharingan Rising series by weialala [Naruto; canon-divergence with supernatural elements; Sasuke-centric, technically Sasuke/Naruto but is more Sasuke's relations with everyone]

Peripeteia, Part 4 of the Carry Your Heart verse by mondaze [Shingeki no Kyojin; canon-based A/B/O verse, eventually diverges at the retake Shinganshina arc because Erwin lives (\o/); Erwin/Levi]

Just Another Day by Tierfal [Fullmetal Alchemist; post-manga series, Roy has severe PTSD; pre-relationship Roy/Ed]

try something new by gdgdbaby [Nezha (2019); post-movie oneshot where the two have grown up and gotten their bodies back; Nezha/Aobing]

WIPs that haven't been updated recently but since I'm on a roll, you all should read them:

Nukume Dori by Leareth [Tokyo Babylon, X/1999; canon-divergence, kind-of time travel with X!Subaru falling back into the TB!timeline with all his memories intact; Subaru/Seishirou, a lot of trio interactions with Hokuto] 

boy with a coin, Part 5 of the signal to noise series by twigcollins [The World Ends With You; post-game sequels exploring the consequences of Neku winning the long game and Joshua deciding to bring him back to life; Joshua/Neku]

(more info and my comments on each fic under the cut, because they get long)

The Bureau Files series by Catsafari [The Cat Returns, episodic/case style canon-based sequel; Baron/Haru]

I've been (re)watching Studio Ghibli movies on the weekends and I fell completely in love with The Cat Returns (I love Whisper of the Heart but I missed this movie somehow?). This wonderful sequel fic series focuses on an adult Haru that becomes a full-fledge member of the Cat Bureau and goes on plenty of adventures with the Bureau crew. It's also 500K words (!!!) of delicious slow slow slow SLOW burn between Baron and Haru. I just found out the author will be posting the next installation in the series this month, so you know. Perfect time to read the existing content and then follow the author's weekly updates for more of this amazing series.

i kill giants by diasterisms [Star Wars new trilogy; canon-based sequel to The Rise of Skywalker; Rey/Ben]

Yes, I'm a Reylo fan. I find the grey dynamics between Rey and a vaguely redeemed Ben Solo fascinating. I think it's because I was such a huge Luke and Mara Jade shipper from the Legends days. Anyway, I'd recommend pretty much all of diasterisms's Reylo fics (they nail the characterization + growth arcs incredibly) but this WIP in particular is a direct TROS sequel, which is great for all us fans who were very WTF about the way TROS ended. Also - lots of Force ghosts :D

Ragnarǫkr, Part 2 of the Sharingan Rising series by weialala [Naruto; canon-divergence with supernatural elements; Sasuke-centric, technically Sasuke/Naruto but is more Sasuke's relations with everyone]

I think my bookmark gushes enough about this series (and the previous installment) that I don't need to rehash it here. But anyway, this sequel is flipping amazing. The world building is so incredible omg. The wait between chapters is very long but so very worth it.

Peripeteia, Part 4 of the Carry Your Heart verse by mondaze [Shingeki no Kyojin; canon-based A/B/O verse, eventually diverges at the retake Shinganshina arc because Erwin lives (\o/); Erwin/Levi]

I'm usually very, very particular about my A/B/O verses (the concept squicks me a little but some writers subvert the trope and those are amazing) and this is a really great take on the trope - Erwin and Levi bond first out of necessity and then have to rebuild/realize a romantic relationship out of it later; they're already such strong friends and incredible partners that the bond actually throws them out of whack initially lol. But the evolution of their relationship is so well written, and the sub-plot about Levi being targeted is also great. Anyway, in this particular sequel goes back to the canon-timeline; Erwin survives the Beast Titan charge, everyone finds out about Marley, and the Survey Corps goes on a mission to make contact with the outside world. I don't actually follow the manga but I know enough that this sequel is really intriguing me. Also, Erwin lives. Thank goodness Erwin lives.

Just Another Day by Tierfal [Fullmetal Alchemist; post-manga series, Roy has severe PTSD; pre-relationship Roy/Ed]

Everything Tierfal writes is golden, but this one. Oh man, this one. It gets dark, and sometimes that's bad if you're already stressed (your mood doesn't need more depressing things to drag it down) but sometimes... you also want to indulge in it, because when you see a character go through hard and traumatic times and make it out the other side, it gives you hope too, you know? Anyway, right now at chapter 2, it's all trauma and pain for Roy, so take caution while reading this fic, but......... Ed. Oh my goodness, Ed. He tries so hard. He doesn't give up. This fic reminds me a bit of But Not Buried This Time, where Ed is the one drowning in his guilt... I remember thinking while reading that fic, "goodness, everyone needs a Roy like this in their life." Well, for this fic? I just keep thinking, "goodness, everyone needs an Ed like this in their life."

try something new [Nezha (2019); post-movie oneshot where the two have grown up and gotten their bodies back; Nezha/Aobing]

not a WIP but what the hell. So this version of Nezha is hell of a lot different from the Nezha I remember of my childhood (in that....... Nezha 100% kills Aobing lol and I remember being very conflicted because I love dragons and Nezha kills a lot of them, but at the same time deity!Nezha is pretty badass?). So anyway, someone with creative control DEFINITELY has shipper glasses on when they made this movie, I cannot get over how adorable Nezha and Aobing are. I really enjoyed this movie, it was so over the top and funny. And they made Nezha and Aobing literal soulmates? This fic is cute and adorable because it's Nezha and Aobing traveling and helping the world after they grow up and regain their bodies, and it's just tons of adorable teenage(?) confusion where they're hovering on the edge of friendship and something more. THEY ARE SO ENDEARING I love them!!

Nukume Dori by Leareth [Tokyo Babylon, X/1999; canon-divergence, kind-of time travel with X!Subaru falling back into the TB!timeline with all his memories intact; Subaru/Seishirou, a lot of trio interactions with Hokuto]

Instead of dying on the Promised Day, 25-year-old Dragon of Heaven Subaru wakes up in his 16-year-old body during the Tokyo Babylon timeline. Having seen what the future holds, he decides to continue with his original Bet with Seishirou - this time fighting to win. In the latest installment, we go pass the TB timeline into the years before 1999 and the changes that the divergence makes is just absolutely fascinating, plus we start seeing more of the X/1999 cast, whom I love and adore.

boy with a coin, Part 5 of the signal to noise series by twigcollins [The World Ends With You; post-game sequels exploring the consequences of Neku winning the long game and Joshua deciding to bring him back to life; Joshua/Neku]

I love Joshua so so much but he digs his own bed willingly and he lies in it with all the broken pride he can muster. He's very much the master of forfeiting the game before he can lose, except this time it's Neku standing beside him, and Neku is very, very stubborn. Trust your bloody partner, Joshua (I say, with all the love in my heart for this Joshua and this poor beleaguered but incredibly stubborn Neku and the all the game mechanics and worldbuilding in this series). Also, the latest cliffhanger is killing me but I'm ready to see Joshua go absolutely feral on anyone who would dare touch his city and his partner.  

[indowolfgang]

About Jurassic Park’s lack of feathers: (y’all this is long)

most dinosaur related media doesn’t have feathered dinosaurs and a lot of people blame Jurassic Park. dinosaurs are my special interest and Jurassic Park is a big part of that so ima prove them wrong. first off i wanna say haters get owned: 2011: NASA scientists said it was the 7th best SciFi movie and 2012: Popular Mechanics said it was the 6th accurate and “was faithful to early '90s speculative genetics theories”

anyways... lets get into it

Games (that i have lol):

Ark: Survival Evolved: 10/29 dinosaurs

Compsognathus,  Deinonychus, Gallimimus, Megalosaurus, Microraptor, Oviraptor, Raptor, Therizinosaur, Troodon, Yutyrannus (this dino was actually found with direct evidence of feathers!)

at first i had no idea what type of ‘raptor’ they were referring to, but i checked and its a Utahraptor. the largest-known individual of Utahraptor was about 7 meters (23 feet) long so size is a-okay with me

i debated including the Pegomastax because the wiki says it has fur and quills, which could be argued as protofeathers, but since its from the early Jurassic its hard to say.. just to be safe i left it out

i only looked at dinosaurs cause there are a ton of made-up/mythical creatures, prehistoric birds/reptiles, and just a straight up vulture

The Isle: 3/30 dinosaurs 

Therizinosaurus, Orodromeus (AI), Austroraptor 

none of these are playable in survival mode btw

also i’m not sure if the game is going for accuracy or not, Dilophosaurus and Velociraptor are the right size but still... no feathers on known feathered dinos: Velo, Rex, or Utahraptor

technically feathers have never been found on Utahraptors but there is strong evidence that all dromaeosaurids had them since Microraptor and Dakotaraptor had them

Jurassic World Evolution: 0/69 (nice) dinosaurs

based on the movies Jurassic World, Fallen Kingdom, and eventually they added a Jurassic Park DLC. despite the Jurassic World movies not counting the Jurassic Park sequels (Lost World and JP3) as part of its time line, the Jurassic Park DLC includes skins from those movies. not much to say here... i’ll get into the movies further down

i didn’t count the pteranodon, cause its not a dinosaur and, still, no feathers

Saurian: 4/8 dinosaurs

Dakotaraptor, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Acheroraptor, Ornithomimid

i’ve only included the dinos that are currently in-game, the wiki says they are planing to add another playable dino, Anzu (feathered), but so far it hasn’t even been added as an AI yet

they are actually going for scientific accuracy so all the dinos that should have feathers do and they are, as far as i can tell, realistically placed. Good Job!

games are hard to talk about... usually games that feature dinos will have an element of ‘fantasy’ (Ark especially) and JWE is based on the Jurassic World movies so its dinos can only look like the movies dinos. The Isle is most likely suffering from the status quo, most dinos in popular media look like big lizards so they didn’t want to take a risk. the game isn’t finished and its possible it’ll go from a dinosaur sim to a shooter, since there are human models in game and controls for weapons. i’ve also heard players rumor that you’re not actually playing as the dino but as a camera that follows it around (which would explain the nigh vision mode). chances are The Isle will end up like Ark: man vs dino

Movies:

i thought about discussing The Land Before Time movies (cause i was obsessed with them as a kid lol), but that was pre-Jurassic Park so i’ll give it an honorable mention. ANYWAYS... Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park: Lost World, Jurassic Park 3, Jurassic World, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. none of them have feathered dinos. lets look at why that might be 🤔

Jurassic Park:

no feathered dinosaurs. BUT, feathered dinosaurs were not very mainstream in the scientific community until about 3 years after the movie came out,

“Three years after the first Jurassic Park debuted, paleontologists announced that the small theropod Sinosauropteryx was covered in a fine coat of fuzzy protofeathers. This was just the initial drop in a flood of feathery dinosaur discoveries which confirmed that a wide variety of dinosaurs bore archaic forms of plumage, from simple filaments to asymmetrical feathers that would have allowed them to fly.”

[from this National Geographic article (x)]

looking more into the history of feathered dinos, i found well... a lot. its really difficult to find a concrete time for when paleontologists discovered (and agreed on) feathered dinos, some places say 1860, 1923, 1979, 1983, it goes on forever, one source even said 2001. Archaeopteryx, which an early Jurassic creature, had complex, bird-like feathers. so why no feathers on other dinosaur reconstructions? its possible these discoveries were ignored by the larger scientific community in favor of the well established depictions of big, slow lizards

[if u wanna do even more reading about feathers check out this All About Birds article (x) and the History of discovery section on the Archaeopteryx’s wiki (x)]

JP definitely upped the Velociraptor’s size and did my Dilophosaurus dirty, so i will fault them for that. the big ass raptor has stayed in pop culture for-fucking-ever. it feels like everyone is making naked Utahraptors and calling them Velociraptors. and g*d... my poor Dilophosaurus... why’d they make you spit? and why so small? you’re really 6-7 meters (20-23 feet) long! you are a large carnivore!! also it is possible that Dilophosaurus had feathers, though again, because its from the early Jurassic, it would have been more like a fur

Lost World:

no feathered dinosaurs. i cant really fault them for not changing the dinosaurs looks in a sequel, also trust me when i say it could have been worse the dino depictions in the book are insane... Chameleon Carnotaurus anyone?

the movie also didn’t explain why there were different dinos at Site B compared to the actual park. my best explanation is from the book: Site B was where the dinosaurs were actually hatched and raised, they were moved to the park just before they got to big to handle. so we are to assume that any non-Jurassic Park dinos we saw in Lost World were originally planned to be moved. sucks that they left this detail out of the movie adaptation, cause a lot of fans got confused (including me lol)

Jurassic Park 3:

no feathered dinosaurs. an incredibly mild attempt at ‘feathered’ raptors was made in JP3 by giving the males quills, but at that point the movies had an established ‘science’ and completely changing the look of the animals at the end of a trilogy might have confused a few people (even if it was more scientifically accurate)

Jurassic World:

no feathered dinosaurs. they literally stated in the movie that they left out accurate feathered dinosaurs because Dr. Wu was asked to create: “Dinosaurs that look like what the public expects dinosaurs to look like. Scary. Scaly. Wild.” Dr. Wu also states that the dinosaurs have never been actual dinosaurs. their DNA is a melting pot of DNA.

(i swear i read something about Dr. Wu attempting to make feathered dinos, but because of all the non-dino DNA he couldn’t get the genes to stick, i can’t find a source or any proof of this so i guess that can be our lil headcanon lol)

though for a more real life reason,

“The reasoning behind this being continued through the subsequent movies, though, is more about how imposing the featherless versions look.” ... “It seems more likely that the filmmakers went with how most people would perceive dinosaurs in the hopes that dino experts would take notice.”

[from this Screen Rant article (x)]

so basically JW cared more about scary, recognizable dinos than accurate ones

Fallen Kingdom:

no feathered dinosaurs. again a sequel is a bit too late to change up your designs. unfortunately the change had to happen in JW or not at all

In Closing:

basically Jurassic Park came out just before paleontologists announced Sinosauropteryx, which popularized feathered dinos. even then Jurassic Park was restricted by the technology of the time. the early ninety’s was not the best time for CGI and i can��t imaging making feathered animatronic dinosaurs that could stand up to the rain they filmed in. new media is definitely stuck in the past, look at the movies that come out and compare how many are sequels or prequels or remakes or whatever. Jurassic Park was a great movie and obviously the vultures that make movies are gonna try and ride its brand into the sunset. blaming the movie for stopping new scientific discoveries from entering the mainstream isn’t fair. the movie did a lot to bring current science into the lime light, it popularized warmblooded, avian dinos and showed them as intelligent, fast moving animals instead of slow movie monsters

but JW had no excuse!  they should get majority of the blame for making the public afraid of feathers cause they themselves were afraid of feathers! they had the technology, the budget, and the opportunity to follow in its parent movie’s footsteps. they could have at least TRIED to be accurate but they just stuck to what people knew cause that was more profitable. science is only as interesting as the toys you can make of it i guess...

a final note, just for my sanity: JP dinos aren’t real dinosaurs. not even in fiction. they’re DNA is so full of garbage that their inaccurate appearances could be explained away with that alone. the books get into this more, talking about all the failed embryos and how many diseases these creatures had. even delving into their lack of social skills and how the raptors didn’t act like a pack, but a group of aggressive individuals. unfortunately the average viewer isn’t gonna know about all this set dressing. hell, i didn’t even read the 2 books until recently (end of 2019/ start of 2020) so i was as ready to believe whatever the movies showed me. honestly the books and movies are all good in different ways, not accurate, but good. read the books if you want more gore and technical explanations and the movies if you want, well... more story, they add a lot of stuff that wasn’t in the books

one day i’ll get into the differences in the books and movies.. one day

[ this was originally a response to someone but tumblr hid it, cause links. so i’ve edited it to be a standalone post and also WAY longer. feel free to add on or correct any mistakes i’ve made (be respectful tho) ]